Sakura Biyori
by keroberus
Summary: A day that began with a dream of Arata and Omi Jingu takes Chihaya on a mini adventure to Fukui, and there she meets him again with emotions overflowing, amid a sakura storm.
1. Hisakata no Hikari

A story inspired by the uninspiring volume 9 (chapter 48 of the manga)...written to the backdrop of the beautiful piano forte version of the Chihayafuru Main Theme from the OST. This goes beyond the anime, I suppose, but I will try not to include any spoilers. You can just say this could take place anytime after Chihaya and co. have already been to Omi Jingu and after Chihaya played Shinobu for the first time. Maybe around volume 8 or 9 of the _tankoubon_.

Just a bit of fluff I thought up on a whim. I make no claim to the characters, the story or the publication rights of Chihayafuru.

-Kero (2/20/12)

Verse 1

_Hisakata no / _In the peaceful light

_Hikari nodokeki_ / Of the ever-shining sun

_Haru no hi ni_ / In the days of spring

_Shizu-gokoro naku_ / Why do the cherry's new-blown blooms

_Hana no chiruran_ / Scatter like restless thoughts?

_- Ki no Tomonori_ (poem 33 of the _Hyakunin Isshu_)

* * *

><p>There were so many things she wanted to say to him, but the words gathered together and could go no further than the base of her throat. Not a single syllable could stumble forward from her flush stained lips. The crowd was too audible. Her kimono weighed her down. Camera flashes blinded her peripheral vision. All around her friends offered words of congratulations and cluttered her thoughts. One underlying string of consciousness prevailed. Chihaya wanted to reach out to him but he was too far away and not even looking in her direction.<p>

_Turn around. Please..._

How many years had it been since they had made the promise? She had tried and failed, and tried again until her knees ached from kneeling, her hands hurt from striking, her eyes drained from crying until she made it here with years of effort, a place where she knew she would find him again. They had, after all, sworn long ago to meet when the path of their dreams intersected. The day he left Tokyo always lingered in her distant memory, an anchor in everything she did since then.

As if hearing her inner voice beckon, the tall figure dressed in kimono and hakama turned around and gave her a smile that only Arata could give. The warmth she felt when he looked at her was the same feeling she had before the tournament, when he texted "Have fun, Chihaya," to her phone. The words that caught in her throat choked her and brought tears to her eyes.

Arata walked over to her without hesitation, and with a hint of concern for her in his expression. "Chihaya?"

Her hand automatically found its way to his kimono collar and clutched it tightly.

_Don't look away ever again_, she thought, _and I won't let go_.

All the while, she could hear the wind-stirred cherry blossoms scattering around Omi Jingu.

-000-

Chihaya's eyes blinked open, and the feeling of wet tears falling down her temples bid her a warm morning greeting. She wiped the sides of her face and inhaled deeply.

_Not this dream again_, she sighed as she lay staring at the ceiling. Chihaya turned and clutched her Daddy Bear bed roll close to her, burying her face in it.

"When can I see you again?" she asked the empty room. Chihaya looked up to where her Daddy Bear stuffed animal was sitting on a nearby shelf.

_Stupid, you can call him anytime you want_, she imagined it saying. She looked over to her desk where her cell phone was charging. She had set Arata's number on speed dial but Chihaya had yet to use that function.

"I'd just end up sounding like an idiot," she mumbled into the pillow, answering her own rhetorical question.

_That's your own problem_, answered Daddy Bear.

_I wanted to see him so badly back then_, she thought to herself, recalling the time she and Taichi went all the way to Fukui to visit. _I even borrowed money from stingy, money-loving, interest-charging Chitose to do it. And I would do it again...but... _ Chihaya sighed again. She wanted so badly to fulfill her promise. She hoped so strongly that her dream would someday become a reality, that he would be standing there in front of her as the best male karuta player in the world, and she in front of him as the best female karuta player in the world. And just as someone would ask to take a picture of the ruling Meijin and Queen together, she would gather the courage to say the things she could not. But until then...

_I wanted to see you._

_I really wanted to see you._

_All this time, I really wanted to see you._

_All this time..._

Chihaya flushed deeply at the thought of saying these things to him while everyone was watching. But only then, only on that stage, when she surpassed her trials would she be able to tell him what she felt clearly, and beautifully; and the words would flow like a waka poetry from her lips.

What she felt was a mystery to even Chihaya, however. Many nights were spent with her straining to understand what it was that drove her to such feats, and many times, Chitose even called her out on her obsessive-compulsive behavior. If anything, Chihaya was passionate about the things she loved, and to others it may seem like OCD behavior. She was like that with karuta, with Daddy Bear...with Arata...

_He's the one who gave me my dream, of course I would feel strongly about him_, she would often reason to herself. But the second she tried to explain it logically, a question would always follow: _Is it only that?_

Instinctively she knew that what she felt ran deeper than that. This feeling was springtime bright, ran oceans deep, flowing steady, like a river. When she thought about Arata it was a similar feeling to how she felt about the poetry she knew by heart. It was friendship. It was family. It was truth. It was hope. It was also more than that, though she had no name for it. Perhaps the day she would understand would be that bright day at Omi Jingu when they stood on the stage together.

She closed her eyes and placed a hand over her chest. Beneath her fingers she could feel her quickened heartbeat. Whenever she thought of him, her heart would react in kind. Chihaya wished she could decipher its language. Just as Chihaya was immersed in these thoughts, a knock on her door interrupted her.

"Chiha-" started her sister, opening the door before she even had permission. But she stopped short when she saw her younger sibling's expression. "Wah, what's with that face?" Chitose wrinkled her nose. "Just when I thought you couldn't look more appalling in the morning you greet me with this."

"W-what?" asked Chihaya, too lazy to make a clever retort.

Her sister sighed. "Do you have anything important to do today? Do you need to prepare for any tests or important assignments or anything like that for Monday?"

"No, why?" responded Chihaya quizzically. It was Sunday morning.

"I need your help. I need you to come with me to a shoot. Mom was going to go but she's coming down with something, and I don't need her sneezing everywhere when she should be in bed," said her older sister. Surprisingly, Chitose had a deeply embedded line of filial piety underneath all her self-absorbed attitude and make-up.

"Why do you need me?" she asked.

"Well, duh, I'm going to need an assistant, right?" she answered, rolling her eyes emphatically.

"You mean a stooge you can order around to get you coffee and snacks," mumbled Chihaya rolling over and turning her back on Chitose. "No thanks. I need to practice karuta."

"Karuta, karuta," muttered Chitose. "Is that all you think about?"

"No," retorted Chihaya. "I think of other things too!"

"Like what?" insisted Chitose, rummaging through her sister's closet for something suitable to wear. "That hideous Daddy Bear? That doesn't count."

"Why not?"

"Because I said so," answered Chitose. "If you were a normal girl, you be thinking about purses, or make-up brands, or dieting. Maybe even boys, or who you want to give chocolates to. Or," she added as an afterthought, "who you'd want to confess to under the cherry blossoms."

"Cherry...blossoms..."mulled Chihaya. "I had a dream about cherry blossoms."

"That's a good sign," said her sister with a brightened expression. Chitose picked up a matching pair of shoes from the closet to complete the ensemble. After all, a model's sister cant go around in public looking like a slob. People might start to speculate that Chitose had "work" done on her.

"Cherry blossoms...at Omi Jingu," finished Chihaya. Now that she thought about it, the Meijin match occurred in January after the New Year. It would still be too early for cherry blossoms.

"Good grief!" exclaimed her older sister. "Cherry blossoms and karuta? What is _wrong_ with that warped little mind of yours? If it were me and I had to choose between the two, I'd pick love over karuta, hands down."

"Why do I have to choose between them?" Chihaya wondered aloud. "Why can't I have both...?"

"_Where_ are you going to find a guy who will indulge you and play karuta with you all day?" asked Chitose with exasperation and stomping her foot. "That guy would have to be as bad a karuta nut as you are, and that would just be..._wierd_," she said finally, trying to find the right word for it.

"I can play karuta with him...he wouldn't mind..." said Chihaya, almost inaudibly. She had only played against him once, but thinking on it now, the thought of playing against him now, as they were both advanced into the A ranks sent a thrill to her heart. _It would be magical_, she thought.

"Can we drop the subject please? Get dressed and eat something. We have to leave in 20 minutes."

"What do I get out of it?" she grumbled at her older sister.

"My eternal gratitude," Chitose said sarcastically and closed the door behind her.

"Tch." Chihaya rolled out of bed and onto the floor. She looked up at the sun streaming in through her curtains. Some fresh air could actually clear her head from the haze of thoughts that greeted her this morning. Reluctantly, she got dressed.


	2. Chihayafuru

Verse 2

_Chihayafuru_ / Even when the gods

_Kamiyo mo kikazu _/ Held sway in the ancient days,

_Tatsuta-gawa _/ I have never heard

_Kara kurenai ni _/ That water gleamed with autumn red

_Mizu kukuru to wa_ / As it does in Tatsuta's river

- Ariwara no Narihira Ason (poem 17 of the _Hyakunin Isshu_)

* * *

><p>Chihaya watched the monotonous scenery whizz by in swirls of blue sky and green fields as she and Chitose sat across the photographer and his assistant on the bullet train. The make-up artist, wardrobe selector, and lighting assistant were sitting somewhere behind them. All the while, the photographer's assistant, Miina, chattered about whatever she felt was relevant in the fashion industry of today. The photographer, Seiji Ihara, most likely used to tuning her out, sat with his arms folded and eyes closed behind a pair of expensive sunglasses. Chitose joined in the superficial conversation when she could, and Chihaya was ignored by everyone for the most part. Her earphone buds continuously chanted the karuta poetry of the Hyakunin Isshu from her iPod.<p>

"Wow, Chitose, I really love your nail polish! Is that the new color from Shu Uemura?"

"Of course!" her sister clucked. "But, what I really want is that new skin cream from SK-II! But alas, it costs a small fortune!"

"I know. It's supposed to have a breakthrough secret ingredient that's as expensive as gold," chatted Miina. "It's a good thing our make-up artist uses SK-II brand products a lot. I can get free samples from her."

"Lucky!"

"Tell me about it," smiled the assistant. "As soon as we get back to Tokyo I'm going to hit Ginza's Mitsukoshi. They're having a make-up party until sunset. The magazine gave me two tickets. You want to come?"

"Are you kidding? Of course I do!" exclaimed Chitose excitedly. "I hope the shoot goes well, then we can get back early. Where exactly are we going?"

**_"Chihayafuru kamiyo mo kikazu tatsuta-gawa; Kara kurenai ni mizu kukuru to wa," _**the reader chanted musically into Chihaya's ear buds.

"Oh, didn't I tell you in my text message? Echizen, in Fukui."

A sudden flash of red splashed across Chihaya's view as the train slowed and pulled into the station and passed a billboard. The product was some sort of brandy, but the background behind the caramel colored glass was a spray of bright autumn maple leaves.

_Fukui?_ Chihaya's ears perked up. Sure enough a electronic billboard on a wall of the station listed "Fukui Town" among the destinations. Chihaya could feel her heart pounding in her chest and the blood rush to her face as her hands inadvertently touched the window by her seat. She sat frozen while the entourage was waking up its members and gathering its bundles to get off the train. A driver and van would be waiting for them.

"Since you're doing a advertisement spread for Genji Foods Enterprises, Ihara-san thought Echizen would be a perfect place," said Miina as they stepped off the train.

"Huh? Why is that?" asked Chitose.

"Murasaki Shikibu's father was governor of Echizen Province during the Heian Period,"said Chihaya, nonchalantly as she carried one of Chitose's duffels over her shoulder. It was, in fact, the subject of a recent lecture by Kana-chan when Chihaya asked who Murasaki Shikibu was. Kana gave her a stern earful after that, lasting a whole 10 minutes.

"Not bad," smiled Ihara, patting Chihaya on the shoulder before he started flagging down their driver to help them with their baggage.

"_Who?_" whispered Chitose in her younger sister's ear, to avoid looking stupid in front of Ihara-san, popular for his recent fashion spreads in _AneCam_ magazine.

"The lady who wrote 'The Tale of Genji,'" whispered Chihaya back at her.

"_Oh_," said Chitose, finally getting it. "How the heck do you know these things?" asked Chitose, her eye brow twitching with annoyance. "You used to be among the bottom 5 in rank during your freshman year." Chihaya shrugged as she handed over the duffel to the driver, Yamada-san.

"Yamada-san," she asked suddenly. "Is there a bookstore near the station?"

"Yeah, there is. It's on the next street from the one facing the station, on your right,"said the driver in his Kansai dialect. The accent made Chihaya's heart skip a beat. Chihaya looked over to Miina and Ihara-san's direction. They were discussing which photo-shoot location to go to first. One set would come from an area where the ocean could be seen from the background, another where rice paddies could be seen in the background and the third would be a random shoot at the park where the cherry blossoms were still in bloom.

"Will we be leaving in the next 10 minutes?" she asked anxiously.

"Nah, it will take us at least 15 minutes to get all this stuff into the car," Yamada-san replied. "I couldn't double park in front so I had to park further away."

"What's with you?" demanded Chitose. She noticed her sister's cheeks were flushed.

"I have to go see something," Chihaya responded vaguely.

"Pick up the latest _AneCam_ for me, will you?" her sister ordered, handing her a few bills. "I have to make a good impression with Ihara-san." With that, Chihaya made a mad dash out of the station, down the street and disappeared around the corner.

"She's fast," commented Miina, coming back to the rest of the group to help with the photography equipment. "I wish I was still in the springtime of youth. That's the look of a girl in love."

"Chihaya?" asked Chitose incredulously. "Pfft. Never."

-000-

Passersby eyed the fashionable Tokyo city girl curiously. She looked as though she had just stepped out of a fashion magazine. Tall and slender, her proportions were that of a model and her clothes seemed to be name brand. In the mid-morning sun, a soft light fell over her, highlighting her long, undone straight hair. Her taupe, lightweight overcoat was pinched in the back to accentuate her feminine shape while a soft pink, tube neck sweater highlighted the paleness of her skin. Her long legs were covered in a pair of white jeans with brass brads and small zippers on the sides. A pair of droopy, black suede ankle boots with fringe topped off the ensemble.

She stood still as a statue outside of the bookstore, just far enough so that the motion sensors of the sliding doors did not detect her presence. A woman and her young son entered the store and Chihaya's acute sense of hearing heard a familiar voice call out, "_Irashaimase_." She had no idea why her heart was beating so hard in her chest that it hurt. It occurred to her that her heart could stop entirely if she heard his voice again.

Just as an elderly couple approached the entrance, a housewife was exiting and Chihaya's legs hurried behind the couple to mingle into that little crowd. Before he could look up and say, "_Irashaimase_" again, Chihaya hurried past the people in line and dipped behind the magazine shelf at the back of the store and crouched down. She felt as though all her extremities had gone numb.

"C-can I help you miss?" asked a voice. Chihaya looked up to see a rotund, _otaku_-looking man wearing a bookstore apron with a tag that said 'manager.' He was blushing slightly as he eyed the magazines next to her. Chihaya looked down and nearly fainted when she realized she was in the porn section. A red flush colored her from head to toe.

"Sorry!" she exclaimed. "I...um..." She was suddenly saved by her cell phone ringing at her. Chihaya picked it up to hear her sister barking for her to come back. She closed the cell phone while her sister was in mid-sentence.

"I have to go," Chihaya said, disappointed. She gave one quick glance towards the cashier and let out a little sigh. The manager raised his eyebrow quizzically. Chihaya exited the store as quickly and stealthily as possible; this time hiding in between the mother and son she had seen enter earlier and two chatty girls.

"_Maido arigato gozaimashita_," said Arata politely as they left. From the corner of his glasses, he thought he saw mixed into the crowd the face of someone he knew, but when he looked again, the face was already already gone.

"That's odd," said his manager leaning against the counter, as there were no more customers up front to wait upon.

"What is?" asked Arata emotionlessly as he closed the register again. He was used to the inane comments of his manager by now.

"There was this beautiful girl in the store, crouching down behind the porn shelf looking at you."

"What are you talking about?" asked Arata in disbelief. "Are you mixing your adult RPG with reality again?"

"Hmph!" he snorted. "I was seriously overworked that week. You don't understand what it's like to be me."

"Right, right," answered Arata, completely disinterested.

His manager came closer and said in a low, serious tone, "You didn't break any hearts recently or anything like that, did you?"

"No one's ever confessed to me," responded Arata honestly.

"Really?" asked his manager in disbelief. "Not even that little stalker neighbor of yours who always comes here to buy a book?"

"Yuu?" asked Arata incredulously. "She's just a friend."

"That's what people say until they go all 'Fatal Attraction' on you. But getting back to this girl," he continued. "She looked _really_ familiar to me, like I've seen her face somewhere," his manager insisted. "A fashionable city girl, the way she was dressed. Straight hair, cute." He scratched the back of his head as he walked away from the counter.

"Ah!" he exclaimed in a sudden revelation. "She looked just like Chitose Ayase, but with a smaller chest!"

The stack of back order papers slipped out of Arata's hands and fluttered down onto the counter. Immediately, he rushed out the front entrance, nearly catching his shop apron on one of the sliding doors as they could not open fast enough, and scanned down both directions of the sidewalk. She was nowhere in sight.

Automatically he pulled out his cell phone from his pocket and checked the screen. There were no missed calls. Was it really her or was he just imagining things?

_No. It _had_ to have been her_, he thought. But what is she doing here? And why would she hide? He furrowed his brow in thought. Arata looked at the blank screen again. His fingers automatically pushed the menu and scrolled down to the name and number he already knew by heart. He texted a message. If it had not been her, then this was just an excuse to text her.

**What are you doing?** he asked. There was no immediate response. Arata wondered if she was at the Shiranami Society practicing, as she usually did on Sunday mornings. As he stepped back into the shop, he received a response.

**I'm sitting in a van. ** The response was a bit more cryptic than her usual messages. But then again, he knew her better than almost anyone. Without her having to say so, he concluded she was not at the Shiranami Society and that she was actually on the road.

**Where are you going?** he texted in return.

**I'm not sure.** Again, a cryptic response.

**Not sure?** _How can she not be sure where she was going_? Arata sighed and smiled wryly. _Doing things on a whim, as usual._

**Looks like it's Asuwayama Park, first.**

He couldn't resist the question any longer. **Did you come see me just now? **

There was a bit of a delay between the question and the answer.

**Yes.**

**Why were you hiding? And in the porn section, no less...**

**I wasn't hiding! And THAT was an accident *_***

Arata chuckled. His manager peered over his shoulder to see the context of the texts but Arata closed the cell phone before that. "I'm on my break time. I'd appreciate it if you'd respect my privacy," he said cooly.

"Tch. Stingy," muttered his manager getting back behind the counter. "It couldn't be your girlfriend? You don't have one...do you?" he asked, as an afterthought.

"She's not my girlfriend," Arata admitted before hanging up his apron on the rack and grabbing his bag from under the counter. "She-" he hesitated, "means more to me than that. I'm taking my lunch early." With that passive-aggressive tone, he left his manager in jaw-gaping disbelief.

"I _knew_ you were going to become a man someday!" he called out after him.


	3. Se o hayami

Verse 3

_Se o hayami_ / Though a swift stream is

_Iwa ni sekaruru_ / Divided by a boulder

_Takigawa no _/ In its headlong flow,

_Warete mo sue ni _/ Though divided, it rushes on,

_Awan to zo omou _/ And at last unites again.

- Emperor Sutoku (poem 77 of the Hyakunin Isshu)

* * *

><p>She couldn't forget the way he looked in her dream. His proud figure dressed in kimono and hakama was a sight to behold. His hakama was black but his kimono was the color of deep blue water, fitting for someone whose motions flowed like rushing water. She would never stop being amazed at how he played. She wondered how it would feel to play him again, but Chihaya would be embarrassed to ask for something like that. After all, she wasn't a 6th grader anymore, coming over to his house to ask his mother if she could play with him. Besides, she had to tag along with her sister all day and having any free time would be unlikely.<p>

"Chihaya, when are you going to grow up?" asked Chitose, mimicking her own exact thoughts. "You didn't even get me a copy of _AneCam_. What were you even doing at that bookstore?" Chihaya failed to mention that she still had her sister's money in her pocket, although Chitose seemed a little too busy to remember it for the time being. Her sister was sitting in a folding chair allowing the hair and make-up artist work their magic after she had changed her casual attire into a flowing white dress. The van was tinted and had curtains in the back so it worked as a make-shift dressing room. The theme was "fresh morning" so the hair, make-up and dress had to match the sentiment.

"I was looking for..." Chihaya began.

"What?" asked her sister.

"My...dream..." she mumbled.

"Dream? What dream? You mean the sakura dream you had this morning? You're beginning to talk like your karuta cards now. I don't know if that's healthy but I can't understand any of it," Chitose sighed, exasperated. Their discussion was interrupted by the animated lecturing of the photographer.

"I want people looking at the picture and say, 'Yes. I want to eat that Genji product so I can feel fresh like that too.' Also, it has to be romantic," Ihara-san was expounding to Miina and the others. He came over and took her sister aside.

As he once more explained the feeling he wanted Chitose express and verbally guided her through the movements of this segment of the photo shoot, Miina walked over to Chihaya, who had sat down on a nearby park bench. She was still holding her sister's coat like a walking coat rack. Beside her, a fresh bottle of mineral water was at the ready should her sister require it. Chihaya often wondered how Chitose could endure modeling. Just watching her traipse around in the thin, flowing dress made Chihaya shiver in the cold air.

"You look bored," smiled Miina. "I have to go help Ihara-san with the lighting, but why don't you let Ami, our make-up artist, work on you? You have a cute face so it should be interesting."

"Oh no, I couldn't," declined Chihaya. But, before she could protest further, Ami had already wordlessly cracked open her treasure chest of make-up, brushes, applicators and powders and was eyeing Chihaya's face like an artist would a blank canvas.

"Something light," repeated Ami. "Like Chitose, but younger and more innocent." Her hands and fingers worked over Chihaya's face quickly and expertly and before she could even tell her to stop, Ami was finished.

"Have a look," said Ami, presenting her with a mirror. Chihaya was impressed. Others had praised her as being a beauty but it wasn't something she really dwelled on. Still, when she saw her reflection she was impressed with the even texture of the tone of her skin, the smoothness of the foundation and the color brushed over it in just the right shades of pink over her cheeks and lilac over her eyes. It was light, and fresh, just like the morning.

"You should go into modeling," smiled Ami, and the wardrobe arranger, Hiromi-kun agreed.

"Want to try on a dress?" he grinned.

"No thank you," protested Chihaya, embarrassed. "I have no interest in modeling."

"It could make you some money on the side," suggested Ami.

"That sounds nice, but I really don't have time for it," sighed Chihaya. Having extra money was an appealing thought, however. It would at least pay for a kimono for competitions. Or, a round-trip ticket to Fukui now and then.

"What do you do, Chihaya-chan, that keeps you so busy?" asked Hiromi.

"I play karuta!" she answered with a broad grin.

"Karuta? Like...in the _Hyakunin Isshu_ game?" asked Ami.

"That silly game I always lose during New Year when I play my provincial cousins?" Hiromi added, wrinkling his nose at the thought.

"It's not silly. It requires technique and finesse, speed and memory. It's a wonderful game. I play competitive karuta," Chihaya announced with sense of self-satisfaction.

"Wow, I think I've actually seen a broadcast on TV," said Hiromi. "Right after New Year's or thereabouts. It looked really intense! I had no idea what was going on, so I just changed the channel."

Chihaya smiled. To outsiders, competitive karuta was a strange sight to behold. But for those who played it, and loved the game, it was poetry in motion.

"I studied the Hyakunin Isshu in college. I had a favorite poem at the time too, although I can't remember what it is now," smiled Ami wistfully. "You can't really apply that stuff in real life, but I remember it was something about tangled bamboo and hidden love, or something to that effect. I used to think it was so romantic. Naturally, that was _before_ my divorce," laughed Ami.

Chihaya took a deep breath and closed her eyes. A fresh breeze carried the faint scent of dew and cherry blossoms. "_Asajiu no Ono no shinohara Shinoburedo_,"she chanted rhythmically, in the karuta reading style of waka poetry. Number 39 by Minamoto Hitoshi. It was a really romantic poem. _Bamboo growing among the tangled reeds like my hidden love..._

"Right! That's the one," Ami exclaimed.

"It sounds like religious chanting," remarked Hiromi.

Suddenly, the sound of a deep voice floating in the air responded with the second verse of the poem; the lilt of the song carried by the wind touched them profoundly. _"Amarite nado ka Hito no koishiki." But it is too much to bear that I still love her so. _

Chihaya stood up immediately, dropping her sister's coat onto the floor, and looked around to find the owner of the voice. Amid the cherry petals falling in spirals like snow their eyes met and she was so shocked to see him there that Chihaya was utterly speechless. In fact, she had quite forgotten to breathe until he said her name and released her from the spell.

"Arata!" she exclaimed in wide-eyed disbelief.

"I found you," he said in that familiar accent, with a warm smile to greet her as he walked over. "Next time you want to play hide and seek, you have to tell me first."

Without even thinking, her hand quickly attached itself to his shirt.

A flush rose to her cheeks and she looked away to one side, a little embarrassed by her behavior earlier in the morning.

"Is...it okay for you to leave your shift like this?" Chihaya asked, finally urging herself to look up at his face. His kind eyes drew her in until she could no longer look away.

"I'm taking an extended break," he said simply. "What are you doing here, anyway?" He looked around and noticed they were not alone. Ami had suddenly gone starry-eyed at the tall, handsome newcomer wondering if he would let her work on him, while Hiromi was sizing him up and arranging different clothing ensembles for him with his imagination. Chihaya suddenly felt as though she did not want to share him. Taking his hand in hers she pulled him away with an apologetic nod to the others, until they were out of earshot.

"I'm tagging along with Chitose today, since Mom couldn't do it. It was a last-minute thing, I had no idea where we were going until we reached Fukui. All of the sudden we were _here_!" she exclaimed. "Otherwise...I would have let you know...before hand, that is. Not-" she looked up almost in apology, "not that I expected you to come out and see me..." Her voiced drifted to almost inaudible levels at that point. "Or anything like that..." Chihaya added lamely.

"Why wouldn't I want to see you?" he asked her openly. "You haven't come back to Fukui since that last time you came here to find me." The tone in his voice was very gentle, even wistful to her ears.

"That's true," she admitted. "That time didn't go _exactly_ the way I had planned, though. It was kind of a _disaster_, actually. But I guess in the end, the effect was the same."

"I am really grateful..." he said, pausing to find the right words, "that you came back to find me. I'm really happy now that I have an opportunity to come and find you this time." Chihaya's cheeks grew hotter.

"I was just thinking on the way here what it would be like to play karuta with you again. I would really like to." She looked down at her feet.

"I can," he said softly, "meet you at Omi Jingu." Chihaya looked up with a rekindled hope in her expression and smiled.

"Pinky promise?" she asked.

He chuckled and extended his hand to her with pinky extended. "It's been a while since I've done this with you. In fact, I think _you're_ the only one who ever made me do this..."

She wrapped her pinky around his and held it tightly. Staring at their pinky fingers tightly entwined, Chihaya realized there was so much she wanted to say to him.

_I wanted to see you._

_I want to play karuta with you._

_I missed you...so much that it hurt. It still hurts._

Perhaps picking up on her troubled expression, he leaned in closer and spoke in an almost tender tone. "If I can become Meijin, you can become Queen. I...believe in you."

Chihaya leaned in until her forehead rested against his shoulder. "I believe in you too, Arata," she whispered. A whirl of cherry blossoms took flight to the treetops above them as they stood unmoving in the center of the sakura storm.


	4. Chigiriki na

Verse 4

_Chigiriki na_ / Our sleeves were wet with tears

_Katami ni sode o_ / As pledges that our love -

_Shibori tsutsu _/ Will last until

_Sue no Matsuyama_ / Over Mt. Sue's pines

_Nami kosaji to wa_ / Ocean waves are breaking.

- _Kiyohara no Motosuke_ (poem 42 of the _Hyakunin Isshu_)

* * *

><p>Chihaya opened her eyes and saw the morning light streaming in through her curtains of her bedroom. Exactly one week had gone by since she fortuitously met Arata in Fukui. Although their meeting was brief, and he practically had to run away in the end from Ami-san and Hiromi-kun trying to put make-up on him or make him try on an outfit, it was wonderful to see him again.<p>

She wrapped herself around her Daddy Bear bed roll with a contented smile. She had another sakura blossom dream again, but this time, she and Arata were dressed in archaic robes and traditional clothing standing in the sakura tree walkway of Asuwayama Park. Hiromi and Ami were also there standing to one side, dressed in similar Heian Period style clothing as their retainers. As she and Arata stood close enough to one another to feel the warmth of each other's presence, he held her hands in his and gently recited poetry in her ear.

_Chigiriki na_

_Katami ni sode o_

_Shibori tsutsu_

_Sue no Matsuyama_

_Nami kosaji to wa_

Her heart swelled with emotion and as he turned to leave, her hand caught his sleeve quickly and she stood on her toes to kiss him. His response was surprise, but his eyes showed that her sign of affection was not unwelcome.

"I'll see you again soon, Chihaya."

His deep voice woke her up again, back to her own reality. She blushed and hid her face in her bed roll. When Arata left her that morning in Asuwayama Park, with those same words of farewell they had fondly parted, but there was definitely no poetry and no kiss. She glanced over to her phone where it was blinking to inform her that a message was waiting for her. Chihaya leaped out of bed, taking most of the bedding with her, and clutched the phone nervously. She flipped it open.

**Time: 6:45 a.m.**

**From: Arata W.**

**Message: Wake up, Chihaya. You're going to be late for karuta practice.**

Nearby, her Daddy Bear stuffed animal grinned at her.

_Coward_, it said. _You _know_ you wanted to. You _know_ you love him. _

Chihaya looked at Daddy Bear in surprise at the thought at first. But then, she answered with a shy smile, "I have to go to practice." She then pushed the bear face down on the shelf while she changed out of her pajamas and into her day wear.

Her morning routine was interrupted by Chitose, knocking furiously on her door. Before Chihaya could go over and open it, her sister burst in, gripping the latest copy of _AneCam_ in her tightly wound fist.

"What is this?" she demanded, handing the magazine over to her sister. Chihaya, puzzled, took the magazine and unfolded it to the advertisement spread for Genji Foods. There was a display of perfectly packaged rice wine, powdered green tea and sakura tea cakes on one side. On the other side, there was a clean picture of Chitose at her best, with her flowing dress billowing up in the same breeze that spread the sakura blossoms everywhere.

"It really is a wonderful picture of you, Sis,"said Chihaya.

"That's not what I'm talking about!" Chitose insisted, in a pouty tone. She pointed to the scenery behind her. There were two hazy figures in the background standing close as if they were whispering to one another like lovers. Chihaya gasped and nearly dropped the magazine. She looked up at Chitose apologetically at first, but then looked back down at the picture. The hazy lighting, the blur of their intermingling shadows and the falling sakura blossoms all around all brought a warm expression to her face.

"Can I have this?" she asked innocently.

"You haven't returned the 3,000 yen I lent you that day," Chitose said huffily.

"But I already used it for club activities," frowned Chihaya.

"You can pay me back," answered her big sister. "But, I'm charging interest!" Chitose gave her an exasperated sigh and left the room.

-000-

"Manager, it's around the corner, fourth stack, second shelf, twelfth book from the right," said Arata as he rung another customer up at the register.

"Honestly," sighed the manager as he came back with the book in question and handed it to another customer, "I don't know how you can remember these things." The customer bowed in thanks and Arata rung up the tally.

"You're so helpful, Arata-kun," the middle-aged woman said.

"It's my pleasure, Midori-san," he said with a smile.

"Oh my! It's such a pity you're stuck working here," she said with a blush. "Make sure you don't waste your youth." She bowed again and left.

"But you're still like an old man, playing karuta during all your spare time. It's unnatural. A guy your age should be thinking about exams...and girls!" his manager exclaimed. "But mostly girls!" he added as an afterthought, as he started stocking the news rack with the latest periodicals. The book shop was again empty.

"A guy like you should stop thinking about girls you can't have and focus on other things," retorted Arata unfeelingly. His manager shot him a dark look.

"I _still_ can't believe you know Chitose Ayase's younger sister. It doesn't seem half fair!" he pouted. "She was so cute too, even if her chest was a little small. But her face was adorable and her legs-"

"I'd appreciate it," Arata cut him off sternly, "if you didn't critique Chihaya like you would a model in your favorite adult magazine."

"Oh, sorry," said the manager. "I didn't mean to talk about your _girlfriend_ like that."

"I _told_ you, she's not my girlfriend," Arata sighed. On a barely audible level he added, "Not yet, anyway."

"I swear, the springtime of youth is wasted on you," his manager muttered.

Just then, Arata's phone in his back pocket received a message. Before he even pulled it out of his pocket he knew it was from Chihaya.

**I'm on my way to practice now.**

Making sure his manager wasn't looking over his shoulder, Arata texted back: **Have fun, Chihaya. Let me know how it goes.**

He slipped his phone back into his pocket and picked up the broom to make his rounds over the shop floor. Once his shift was over he would head over to the Nagumo Society and practice as usual. As he continued sweeping, he noticed that someone had tracked in a sakura blossom into the shop. Arata picked it up and put the blossom aside gently on the counter. An effortless smile spread across his lips as he recalled the two of them speaking softly to one another under the countless branches of cherry blooms. No promises needed to be exchanged, no vows were made. He had always felt they were bonded by something and no matter how far apart they were; that would never change.

A blush crept to his face as he recalled a dream he had, exactly a week prior. He and Chiyaha were standing under the cherry blossoms, dressed in garments that looked like they came out of a period drama. He could still distinctly recall the feel of her lips... He coughed nervously and focused on his task. He knew his manager was eyeing him suspiciously.

_Someday, Chihaya..._ he thought to himself as he continued to sweep. _One day, when the winter blossoms bloom at Omi Jingu, I'll be able to tell you honestly... But until then, I will cheer you on from here._

Finis.

* * *

><p>Author's notes: My sentimental self was listening to the Chihayafuru "Main Theme" as I typed this last chapter. I wanted to tie it all in with sakura blossoms again, hence the title, which means "sakura storm." (Also my favorite end theme song in Bleach)<p>

As you all may know, sakura are the Japanese symbol of, well...just about everything. Love, Beauty, Longing, Separation, Youth, Passion, Time. I think waka poetry is about all these things too, which is why I have a distinct feeling that Chihaya and Arata's relationship is also supposed to reflect these concepts. The separation makes it beautiful, the continuity lets the audience reflect on Time. Time and Love are relative themes that intertwine, and true romantics know there is no boundary to either.

So I hope I've hinted at all of these things in my story: that there is love between them, though unspoken; that their connection is ethereal and goes beyond time, connected by dreams; that they have the same goal and will meet again there on that happy day. When everything comes to the end, they can finally be honest with one another, and that will be their beginning.

Hope you enjoyed! Until next time!

-Kero


End file.
